Body of missing elderly woman found in Virginia

By Times-News

Published: Saturday, October 6, 2012 at 03:16 PM.

At some point, she drove off the road and got stuck. She tried to use her cell phone for a three- to four-hour period early on Sept. 9. No calls ever went through. Police know that because the signal bounced off a cell phone tower between South Boston and
Clarksville
,
Va.

Authorities searched in those areas multiple times for Suggs — and even used a helicopter — but couldn’t find her.

Suggs family had planned a prayer vigil for her on Sunday. It has been cancelled.

The body of a 90-year-old Burlington woman missing since last month was discovered by hunters in Halifax County, Va. early Saturday.

Authorities say that the remains of a woman believed to be Ruzie Suggs, who had been missing since Sept. 8, were found near her 2005 Cadillac Deville in a rural area near Clarksville, Va.

A release from Burlington police said hunters first found her car, with the distinctive personalized tag, “Ruzie1,” off of a rural road in HalifaxCounty.

The remains are being sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Richmond, Va., for positive identification and examination.

Her dog, named “Pierre,” was also found nearby Saturday. The dog was alive and is being cared for by Halifax County Animal Control until it can be claimed by the family.

Suggs was last seen at about 5:30 p.m. Sept. 8 when she dropped her friend off at his home on Lincoln Street in Greensboro. Police think that Suggs, who had mild dementia, got turned around on her way home and ended up on N.C. 29 North, which took her into Virginia.

At some point, she drove off the road and got stuck. She tried to use her cell phone for a three- to four-hour period early on Sept. 9. No calls ever went through. Police know that because the signal bounced off a cell phone tower between South Boston and Clarksville, Va.

Authorities searched in those areas multiple times for Suggs — and even used a helicopter — but couldn’t find her.

Suggs family had planned a prayer vigil for her on Sunday. It has been cancelled.